Plans have been approved for more than 400 Build-to-Rent flats at The Oracle in Reading.
Following the December 3 deferral of the decision at Reading Borough Council’s planning applications committee, councillors voted Hammerson’s scheme through on February 4.
The plans, first submitted in 2022, will deliver 218 flats on either side of the river with retail on the ground floors.
Much of the former Debenhams store will be redeveloped on the north side while the Vue cinema and neighbouring units will make way for the flats on the south side, along with a smaller cinema and retail.
Councillors lamented the high number one one-bedroom flats in the scheme and the building heights.
But in concluding the debate, Cllr Amjad Tarar said: “We don’t have enough space in Reading to build the (necessary) houses, and the green spaces we have, we have to save, so we have to go up.”
The development includes a 10 per cent proportion of affordable homes.
Although councillors repeatedly called it a knife-edge decision, it was voted through by nine votes to three.
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